Comparative Evaluation of Unit Layout Alternatives in Plan-Extension Remodeling of Domestic Korean Apartments

抄録

It has been over 30 years since apartments began to be built on a nation-wide scale, to become the most common housing type in Korea. Now that some time has passed, the earlier apartments are deteriorating in physical quality and have become outdated in regards to the lifestyles of contemporary residents. Up to the most recent years, such aged apartments would be demolished and rebuilt with increased density. However, for sustainability reasons, many argue that ″remodeling,″ where the main structure of the apartments are retained and only internal configurations are modified, should be preferred over the current ″demolish-and-rebuild″ patterns. In order to adopt remodeling, it is critical that architectural strategies to overcome the physical constraints presented from retaining the existing structure are developed. In this study, the author was able to witness a pair of unit layout plans where one followed the traditional planning conventions and the other was more experimental in overcoming the constraints. Through various means such as POE, Space Syntax, and ″Perceptive Spaciousness Model,″ a model the author developed based on Michael Benedikt′s Isovist model, the experimental alternative proved to be preferable for remodeling.